System Change

Assassin’s Guild HQ, Vallum

Once the monstrous Derek Hunt left, Nyx dismissed all the Vice Leaders of the guild. All that remained in the meeting room were Maven, Mara, and himself. What they needed to discuss didn’t need to be heard by the lower members. The disfigured elf gazed at Mara and shared a knowing look with the woman. They were in a predicament that the guild had never found itself in before—at least, not during Nyx’s long life as a member.

“Are the two of you just going to sit there?” Maven asked with a sneer. “We have to figure something out. We have to do something about that bastard.”

However, before either of them could answer, the doors to the room swung open and a dwarf with a shaved head and a golden-brown beard that reached all the way past his chest entered. He was wearing a full set of plate armor and had a massive war hammer strapped to his back—the butt of the shaft almost touched the ground, while the top of the hammer was well over a foot taller than the dwarf was. The short, dwarven man walked around the table, leaned his hammer against it, then hopped up into the empty seat beside the other Guild Leaders.

“What the holy hell is going on around here? We having a secret meeting? One without the Vice Leaders?” he asked, but didn’t bother giving anyone a chance to answer. “Did the three of you feel that dreadful aura not long ago? Was that you, Mara? It almost woke me from my nap… almost. Or maybe it was just a dream…” He then looked over to Nyx and said, “Holy hell Nyxy boy, put your mask back on. You’re going to scare the ghosts half to death like that.” The man then flicked his wrist, and a jug appeared on the table. He grabbed it with one hand and put it to his lips—turning it up and taking a big gulp. After letting out a belch, he said, “Great stuff. Not quite as good as the king’s ale, but it’s getting there.”

“Braxton…” Nyx muttered, then reached up and put the mask he was wearing before back on his face.

“Ah… that’s much better. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to hold this brew down with you like that,” Braxton said. “I’d offer the three of you some, but I only brought enough for me.”

“We don’t want any of your nasty ale, old man,” Maven said, then he looked back to Nyx and said, “Can we get back to what we are going to do?”

“Hey!” Braxton said with another belch. “Don’t make me put you over my knee like ma used to do with me. I can, and I will.” After that, he looked around and saw that he didn’t get the reaction that he wanted, and continued, “Wow. Something interesting really must have happened. What was it? Did a bug crawl up each of your asses? Wait, that aura from before wasn’t Mara upgrading one of her skills, was it? And why aren’t the Vice Leaders here again?”

Nyx looked at Mara once again, then the woman nodded, and Nyx spoke. “A problem for the guild has arisen. A big problem.”

“A big problem?” Braxton asked. “What kind of problem?” He stroked the top of the warhammer with his hand. “I can solve a lot of problems.”

“I believe that we will soon have to find a new Guild Leader for the Cydaria branch,” Nyx said.

“You!” Maven shouted, but was interrupted by the dwarf.

“Oh? Maven boy went and did something stupid? What happened? Are you poisoned so bad that Mara isn’t able to help? Drink the wrong brew?” Braxton laughed. “And here I thought I was going to be the next leader to be replaced. Just as soon as someone from Vallum comes along and can take me on, I’m retiring,” the man laughed and took another gulp from the jug—finishing it off. After that, he flicked his wrist, and another appeared next to the empty one. “But seriously, what the hell did you do to make Nyx and Mara look so grim?”

“Do you know Derek Hunt?” Nyx asked.

“Derek Hunt?” Braxton asked rhetorically. “Of course I know Derek Hunt. Not a man you want to mess with. Your report said that he’s most probably somebody that you can’t escape from no matter what, right? Has some great friends, too.”

“Yes,” Nyx said.

“You… read that report?” Maven asked, stunned. “You… a drunken old dwarf, read the latest report on the man?”

“Of course I read it,” Braxton said. “It was a report written by Nyx, not one of his lackeys.”

“But it wasn’t a priority…” Maven said.

“If a report is written by Nyx, it is more of a priority than those labeled a priority by his lackeys. You can usually ignore one of those, but one by Nyx… nope,” Braxton snorted. “You should know that by now.” He looked at Mara and saw, with what little facial expression she was showing, that she was also quite shocked by his statement. “I know the two of you are the newest leaders, but you’ve been Guild Leaders for years and decades, respectively. Surely you know this by now?”

Neither of them answered, and they both stared at the dwarf in silence.

“Wow… well, at least now you do. I hope you remember it, Mara. It may save your life one day,” the Guild Leader of the Vallum Branch of the Assassin’s Guild said. His eyes then looked at Maven, then away, before turning his attention back to Nyx. “So, do you have anyone in mind for the new Guild Leader of the Cydaria Branch?”

“Wait!” Maven half-yelled. “You’re acting like I’m already dead. You haven’t even asked what happened, yet you’re looking for a new leader already?”

“Nyx and Mara both seem to think you made a deadly mistake.” Braxton took a gulp of his drink and shrugged. “If they think so, then it is so. But fine, I’ll humor you. What did you do to get that monster’s bad side? Did you threaten his friends or something? You know, they are on the Black Ledger, right? And, I’m friends with one of them. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I…” Maven stared at the dwarf once again. He wasn’t able to say anything.

“Looks like I got it in one,” Braxton said, then looked back to Nyx. “So, who did you have in mind? It can’t be that Vice Leader of his. I don’t know why Maven picked him to begin with. One of those child recruits would have been better than him.” The dwarf yawned and took another drink, turning the jug up to get the last drop to fall onto his tongue. Then, another appeared beside the two empty ones. “Say, that niece of his is still alive, right? I bet we could offer Cydaria something to get her back. I heard about the reward that those fellows got who completed that raid dungeon. She should be strong enough to be a leader now, don’t you think?”

“Vanessa…” Nyx muttered. “She would be perfect, but I doubt we would have any chance of bringing her back. She was actually just here with Mr. Hunt. His traveling skill was the cause of that dreadful aura you were asking about. The Shadow Witch does not seem to detest her new role in the Cydarian Kingdom. Actually, I believe she may be enjoying herself. It would not be easy to bring her back to the guild.”

“Wait…” the dwarf said. “You said that she was here with Derek Hunt? Did she bring him here? How would she be able to do that without the oaths and contracts kicking in? She shouldn’t be able to bring an outsider to the headquarters…”

“That…” Nyx sighed. “Is Maven’s fault. He allowed Vanessa to bring him here.” The mask-wearing elf shot Maven a look. “His own arrogance got the better of him. Now he is facing the consequences.”

“So, you wanted to rub it all in her face, and she ended up coming out on top,” Braxton laughed. “That makes perfect sense. I always thought you were going to be the Guild Leader with the shortest tenure, and it looks like you’re going to do it by a couple of decades at that. That’s going to be a record that’s hard to break. I’d tell you to start running right now, but if you had bothered reading the report Nyx so graciously wrote up, you’d know that’s pretty much impossible. So, here’s to your short life.” Braxton turned the jug up and drained the whole thing in a single go.

“Now, we might all be getting ahead of ourselves,” Mara finally spoke up. She was a very quiet one and preferred to speak as little as possible. “From the reports that I have read, Derek Hunt isn’t a cruel man. He may choose not to take action.”

“If he isn’t a cruel man, then he will end Maven’s life soon,” Braxton said as he broke out another jug. “What would be cruel is leaving the man alive to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life.” He took a drink. “Whew… this is some good stuff. I found this little hole in the wall in the City of Savannah in Cydaria. Who knew that potions could be turned into drinks that resemble alcohol? That little man is a genius.”

“Is there really nothing that can be done?” Maven finally broke out of his silent stupor and asked. “Braxton, you’re strong, the strongest in the Guild. Can’t you take action?”

“For you?” Braxton snorted. “You see this jug?” He held the new jug that he pulled out. “Did you know that this is made by one of that man’s friends? Made out of some kind of octopus ink or something—they’re actually in business together. Derek Hunt provided the man with the ingredients. This stuff is worth much more to me than your life is. Who knows, that little fellow may end up with something even better than the king’s ale one day. I’m not going to fuck that up.”

“Roman Pascal…” Nyx said.

“That’s the one,” Braxton replied. “Read about the relationship in one of the reports on Derek Hunt after reading your personal report. Saw that the little guy owned a pub and went to check it out. Such a good find. Since it’s all potion-based, I was thinking about providing the little guy with some different ingredients to see what else he could make. It’s a shame that he only does this on the side, and that his true passion is real potions. Actually, we should put that little fellow in the Black Ledger.”

“As Derek Hunt’s friend and business partner, he would already be considered untouchable because of the close relationship. I do not believe it is needed,” Nyx said while Maven sat sullen.

“Wait!” Braxton said with wide eyes. “I know how we can solve this problem.”

“Really?” Maven asked with hope in his eyes.

“Yeah, I have the perfect plan,” Braxton said, then reached over and placed his hand on his weapon. “We could take Maven out right now and give his head to Derek. That would get us in good with the man and make it easier for me to have a good relationship with the Alchemist.”

“That…” Nyx glanced at Maven, who was staring slack-jawed at the dwarf leader. “That is not something we should do,” he relented.

“Well… in that case, just put that the Alchemist also under the guild’s protection. Double up on the protection without having to add him to the ledger,” Braxton said, then sighed. With a flick of his wrist, a very small mug appeared on the table beside his current jug and the empty jugs. He grabbed the jug with some remaining liquid and poured a little of the contents into the mug. He then painfully slid the mug over to Nyx. “Have a… taste,” he said.

“Very well,” Nyx said. He picked up the mug with one hand and tilted the mask on his face with the other—just uncovering a small portion of his mouth by doing so. He brought the mug up and took a sip. The disfigured elf coughed a few times, even spitting out a very small amount of blood in the process. He put the mask back into place, then slid the mug forward. “That… is very strong…” he said.

“It’s great, isn’t it?” Braxton said with a smile.

Curiously, Mara reached over and grabbed the mug, which still had a very small amount of liquid remaining in it. She brought it to her pale lips and also took a sip. She closed her eyes and sloshed it around in her mouth before swallowing. After that, she brought the mug back up and drank the rest. “This is very good,” she said. “We should make a partnership with this Roman,” she said.

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Braxton laughed.

“Yes…” Mara said. “This poison is very lethal. It could make many of our jobs much simpler. Disguised as ale, the poison would be undetectable until it was too late. Without a proper amount of vitality, endurance, or resistances, the targets would be dead before they know what hit them. It never hurts to have a variety of different poisons and toxins.”

“And the taste is immaculate!” Braxton said as he finished the next jug. Then he took out another jug and looked at it longingly. After staring for a moment, he sighed and put it away before muttering, “I should save some for later.”

“Why are you all making so light of all of this!?” Maven yelled. “Is the man not going against the guild? Are we going to allow this?”

“Yes,” Braxton said. “We are. If Nyx thinks we should, then we shall.”

“I do,” Nyx said. “The man is not going against the guild, he is going against you and your foolishness,” he told Maven. “You brought this on yourself. Besides, there is nothing we could do if we wanted, and I would rather not spend the few remaining years of my life looking over my shoulder waiting to die once we failed to eliminate the man—which we would absolutely do.”

“Great!” Braxton said. “Now that everything is settled, you three can find Maven’s replacement. You don’t need my help. I gave you my only suggestion.” He hopped off his chair and stood—making sure to store the empty jugs in the process and strap his weapon to his back. “I’m going back to Savannah to see if I can work something out with that little fellow, since we are all in agreement. Nyx, keep up the good work. If you want, you can take over my duties as well. Just let me know when someone needs a good bashing.” He then looked at Maven. “Someone who is not Derek Hunt. I would hate to die when such exciting innovations are coming about.”

“Very well,” Nyx said. “You may do as you please. I will add your name next to Roman Pascal’s, showing that he is under your protection.”

“Add mine, too,” Mara said. “It is great poison, but it is also good… ale?” She looked at Braxton. “What does the man call this drink?”

“His Brew,” Braxton said.

“Then, it is a very good Brew,” Mara said. “It would be good to have a consistent supply of it.”

“I will add yours as well,” Nyx said. “Now… on to the matter of the next Guild Leader of the Cydarian Branch of the Assassin’s Guild.”